Prisoner & Other Stories
by Tevish Szat
Summary: A surface elf imprisoned by the drow tells his story... A Former Blood War Mercinary recounts one dark day on Gehenna... A curse takes hold on a pair of adventurers...
1. Prisoner

This was written at roughly 2:00am sometime over last spring/summer. Now I'm posting it. I was in a zombified state when I first wrote it, so there were gibberish streams where my hand or head hit the keyboard and errors in most words and probably every sentence. After finally being run through Microsoft Word, most (I hesitate to say all) errors have been fixed. I have no clue why I wrote it or why it's in first person, I was out at the time.  
  
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My story? It's not much, nor is it particularly important to anyone but me. I guess it really starts as I got here.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
I used to be an adventurer, a ranger and a darn good one if I do say so myself. Only I and the two others who traveled with me weren't quite good enough to take on the Drow. Long story short, we were captured and told we were slaves, then separated and thrown into cells on their near surface dungeon level. I've not seen the wizard or the thief again, so I can only guess as to their fate. What matters for my story is that I was tossed in a cell. There was just one tiny window way up the wall that didn't let any light in and a 'bed' at each end. Then I noticed there was someone else in the cell. Sitting in the corner by the last part of a calendar that took up most of the back wall and was scratched into the rock was another surface elf. She looked up at me, and for a second smiled. It's hard to describe her, she was just one of those people who you'd just have to see to really get. Her hair was long and dark brown and her eyes ice blue. She was tall, not quite as tall as me, but tall. It doesn't sound as much saying it, but she was beautiful. I'd seen the ever-young queen of the elves, my queen, but her beauty paled in comparison to the prisoner sitting across from me. For a second she smiled, and then carved something into the wall. She looked back up at me.  
"Ya know," She said, "Your the first person in a long time they've thrown in her who's actually kinda cute."  
I must have blushed so red that I looked like a stunted fire giant. She laughed, not mocking me or anything, but actually just laughing. The kind of laugh you don't expect to hear from a prisoner in drow dungeons. I walked over to her and tried to at least look at the calendar for some of the time.  
"Its amazingly accurate." I said. And, for that sort of calendar, it was. I looked up at the wall and saw a whole lot of calendar. "How long have you been in here?" I asked  
"Five years today. tomorrow if you only count full days." She paused and looked right into my eyes again. Her gaze pierced me, and she spoke again, "As long as we're on personal subjects, I'm Aria. And your name is?"  
"Derek." I replied, "Of Gnarley Wood"  
"Gnarley wood? I was from around there before I did something stupid that landed me in here." I looked up at Aria, and she continued. "I thought I could sneak in and take down the Spider Queen. End the war. That's what they call the bitch who runs this place, but then again you already knew that, didn't you?"  
"Why would I?" I asked. I had known, but I never said anything about why I was here. I had no reason to know.  
"Your an adventurer. A ranger like I was unless I'm really getting bad at this. I'll bet you got trying to do exactly the same thing I was trying to do."  
"Not exactly. There were others with me. A mage and a thief. They'll break out soon enough and then spring the rest of the cells on their way out, if they don't take down the Spider Queen in the process!"  
She frowned. Her eyes held almost too much sorrow for people she'd never met. "I've seen mages and thieves before. These cells are antimagic, or at least they prevent casting. And the locks? The locks are all trapped with a powerful shock spell. I saw a self-proclaimed master rogue try to pick one once. The guards hauled his fried corpse out a couple minutes later." somewhere, distantly, I thought I heard lightning.  
"I guess we really are stuck in here... wait. How did you know I was an adventurer?"  
"You have that look in your eye. All the real ones do. Not these people who get thrown in one day, claim to be masters of something or other, and are hauled out the next."  
I don't know what came over me, but I leaned forward and kissed her. One of the guards must have been passing, because, from the hall, there was a cry of "Go ahead! we need all the slaves we can get!" and then a sickening laugh. I backed away, more embarrassed then I had been in my life.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
An Hour later, I was back in the corner I had started out in. We hadn't spoken since. "I'm sorry, I-"  
"Don't be." She cut me off as she walked over "You have spirit, not like anyone else they've put in this cell. You probably can't be broken like the rest."  
"Broken?"  
"How do I explain this? Listen, in my time as an adventurer I faced Mind Flayers. You ever have a run in with the Illithids?"  
"Yes." I said, and it was true. I had a sickening feeling I knew where this was going.  
"Then you've seen them, the slaves that the Illithids keep. I don't know how its done, but the drow turn their slaves, supposedly you and me, into people like that. Most of the time, someone thrown in this cell is already languor by now as their will is sucked away. Some of us are different. I only know of myself and now you but there are likely others in other cells."  
"You already miss it, don't you?" Aria followed up.  
"Allot of things. What, exactly, do you mean?"  
"The woods. The trees and the flowers and the birds and majestic creatures of the forest down to the crawling ants and the little plant people who let you see them every once and a while. Home, just like anyone else would miss, home!" She was almost crying as she described it and when she finished she hugged me and broke down into tears in my arms. "See that window up there? It looks out on the gallows and the light comes in only one day a year, at dawn on midwinter. It's the most desolate view possible, in the worst place anyone could be! Someday, someday I keep telling myself that someone will succeed. They'll kill the Spider Queen and end the war or the elven army will march down into the drow city and free all the slaves and they'll open up the cell and I - we will be able to leave this horrible place. For some reason I care about you. That's not the way it's supposed to be, we've only met an hour ago but I do care and you do to!" She spoke the truth, I did care about her. As crazy as it was, I did care. "When they come and open the cell we'll leave here and never come back! We'll never have to see worked stone or the darkness of a cave or the bitter cold of the underground ever again! We'll be free. Free."  
Arms still around me, she looked into my eyes again with that piercing look. I don't know who started it but we kissed. The clink of boots upon stone passed the door "Lights out! Snuff the torches!" We let go, Aria and I, and each went to sleep, dreaming of freedom.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
The guards came and took Aria to the gallows the next day at dawn. Midwinter, when the light filtered in through the bars of the window. I turned one of the beds on end and looked out, face pressed against those cold iron bars. Out in the sun, the Spider Queen and her guards stood as Aria was taken up to the scaffold. She looked down at the window and saw me. She looked right into my eyes, knowing I was watching.  
"You have fought for too long. Today it will end. Have you any last words?" The Spider Queen asked.  
Aria stood straight and tall and spoke "Only that, though you kill me, the fight can only end with you losing. Where I die, there will be another to take my place. It will never end." Then she spat in the Spider Queen's face, and looked down at me. "Remember me" she mouthed, and I nodded. She looked into my eyes and gave me the same smile she had when she first saw me. The Spider Queen, her face wiped dry, gave the signal and the executioner pulled the crank.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
I guess I could keep going, about how I kept up the calendar, about how fool after fool comes in and is taken out broken or dead in a day or two. I've been here well over four years now, and the midwinter that will mark my fifth will come in but a few short days. The drow will take me out to the gallows, and I'll be the one spitting in the face of the Spider Queen if I get a chance, and someone else will take my place, or just find a strangely accurate calendar in the cell they get thrown into. When I enter Correlon's Court, where elves go in the afterlife, I'll meet Aria again and we'll walk in the light, never having to see or deal with worked stone or the dark of a cave or the chill of the underground ever again. we can walk in the eternal wood among the trees and the flowers and the birds and majestic creatures of the forest down to the crawling ants and the little plant people who let you see them every once and a while. We'll be free. 


	2. Blood Warrior

Author's note: I don't have any of the old Planescape material, so I'm using my limited knowledge of the planes. Please do not gripe about inaccuracies of things or places. Or do. If you do, I can get it right if I ever write such a thing again. ************************************************************************  
  
I suppose you want to know how I lost my hand. Everyone does. Its the first thing out of a stranger's mouth. Not "hello" or "My name is", but "What happened to your hand?". Well, to get the inevitable over with, I'll tell you. I didn't so much lose it as give it up, berk. I could tell you what happened in short, but that wouldn't be any good. You'd ask more questions and just get under my skin, so I'll tell you the whole story just to save time.  
  
***  
  
Plenty long ago, I was missing my whole left arm, and not just my hand. Now, I've since trained myself to use my right like a normal person, but I was left handed when the whole damn arm got taken off in a fight. I gave the sod my regards right between the eyes for it, but that didn't change anything. I was alive but I couldn't do anything. This really begins when I was reading the newspaper. I came across an ad placed by the Baatezu, recruiting for the Blood War, and it seemed the thing was written just for me. As payment for mercenary services, one of the things they said they'd do was grow a guy like me back any lost limbs. What looked better was that the service was only a month. I'd fought in wars on the prime that lasted years, so what was a month is this "Blood War"?  
  
Well of course I signed right up with them, as right then I would have done anything to get my arm back. Well I show up at their little recruitment office, sign a contract to serve for a month, and this big Pit Fiend mutters something and I've got an arm and not a stump any more. Few seconds later I've also got a sword in my hand, helmet on my head, armor on my back, and had been pushed through a waiting portal.  
  
The next few days were like being run through a machine. I lost my name for the most part and was basically a number, one more statistic to put out on the front lines. Of course, fiends don't like working with mortals, so I was put in a slightly more personal human regiment. Companies were five people who worked together for the whole thing, and my company was an oddball lot. It consisted of myself and four others who were also signing for some sort of odd service and not for gold. The other four were Mouser, Medic, Kara, and Dave.  
  
Dave was the weirdest of the lot. He never told us exactly why he was there but said he owed the fiends a favor, and that the full story involved three orcs, a barrel of oil, a fire devil, and half a head of cabbage. I can only wonder.  
  
Mouser's problems were pretty straight forward. He had been given a choice after getting caught stealing from a devil; a month in the war, or ten years hard labor in Dis. Seeing how he was a scrawny but nimble little guy, I could understand why he picked the war. Not to mention that the war would have gotten him home a lot faster.  
  
Kara. Well, that's complicated. She eventually trusted the rest of us enough to tell, but I won't whisper the dark of it out of equal parts fear and respect. Let's suffice with what she told everyone at first: She had gotten on the wrong side of Asmodeus.  
  
Medic was a more usual case, or at least as usual as they can come. Apparently, he had a split personality thing going, where his normal side would heal people and some evil alter ego would kill 'em. He signed on and got the alter ego, apparently a demon that had possessed him, removed. While we were all wary of him at first, it became pretty clear that he was perfectly stable.  
  
Seeing as mortals have problems with the Gray Wastes, where the fighting started when we were assigned, we were put up in a small keep on a level ledge in Gehenna. The Styx formed a moat all the way around it, and our band (consisting of about eight companies the size of ours) was the only group of humans there. Most of my month ran out without even the lowest Tanar'ri rearing its head.  
  
Our little band was relatively tight knit. All of us trusted one another, Mouser even giving each of us one of his old sets of thieves' tools. Dave taught us about sixty different card games and tricks and gave me an Illusionist's deck (rigged to make illusions easier). I think now that Kara fancied me, but I didn't notice it then. This was all fine until some of us noticed that the Baatezu high-ups, Pit fiends and such, were all pulling out of the keep. Sure, they left plenty of devils behind, but in any situation, when the commanders start to quietly slip away, something bad is going to happen.  
  
Then the worst day of my life dawned. The hellish sun rose red through the volcanic smoke of the Four-fold Furnaces, and there was something coming along the Styx. Two somethings, moving fast. Wherever the somethings were spotted, weird things happened. After an hour, they were close enough to identify: Two of the Ships of Chaos.  
  
Ships of Chaos. The dreaded, but before then untested, war caravels of the demons. Their powers were, until that day, pure rumor. For that matter, their existence was pure rumor as well. Imagine the terror in the ranks when someone said that two were coming down the river Styx right for us. Can't? It was madness. The new highest ranks of Baatezu in the keep started fleeing like mad, and the lower ranks knew they had only the choices to fight or to die. Several humans, though none in my company, took dives into the Styx, somehow seeing that fate as better than whatever the Ships of Chaos would inflict. One thing was clear: They would arrive by noon.  
  
The ships pulled aside the keep walls, and devils started dropping like flies just in their aura. The ladder came up, and demons started swarming over the walls. Most didn't even need ladders, they crawled up the walls of the keep like massive ants. My company was stationed on a tower, though directly above the second ship. We had been fighting off ladders and ropes when a demon broke through the door behind us. There was just one, so apparently the forces of the demons were fanning out. It spotted Dave and screamed "YOU!" Dave said a polite goodbye and slid down a climbing rope to one of the lower levels of the keep. The Demon jumped down after him cursing. What happened to him, and what he did to cause it, I do not know.  
  
Strangely, Dave's eccentric exit created an odd plan. Kara was the firs to come up with it, leaning over the edge of the battlements and seeing the barley guarded ship. Just a few 'loths left behind.  
  
"We can take it." She said confidently.  
  
"Take what?" Mouser asked, "I'm all for taking."  
  
"The Ship!" she exclaimed. The next time they throw up a rope, we slide down it."  
  
It was a brilliant idea, or at least better than waiting to be overrun on out little ledge. The rope came not seconds later. I waited until the climbing demon was halfway up and slid down. My boot met the foul creature in the face and it fell off into the Styx. Kara was only a foot behind me, followed by Medic and finally Mouser. We dropped onto the deck of the ship to find only a handful of 'loths on the deck. Mouser broke for the controls when a door to the below deck opened up underneath him and he was staring down that ship's last demon, a Balor.  
  
Mouser screamed at us to break for the helm. The 'loths were coming up behind us, and the Balor was in front. Medic, Kara, and I ran anyway. As we got within the demon's reach, Mouser ducked between its legs and hamstringed it. It roared in pain and we charged past into the control box. I was the first in and grabbed the wheel and Medic locked the door behind us. Mouser didn't get in. I watched in horror as the Balor picked him up in one claw and ripped him in half. The mental hit start to hammer at me, even though the battle would be over before I really realized what had happened.  
  
The 'loths that had been chasing us backed away and let the Balor in to pound at the door. The demons may have built the ship, but they built it well. The door continued to hold. We regained our composure. Medic was the first to speak.  
  
"This is a fine pickle. What are we going to do about it?"  
  
Any answer was cut off by an explosion. The other ship, or something on it, had attacked us. It took out the Balor, but was clearly aiming for us. I shoved forward on the controls and the ship began to lurch ahead.  
  
"What are you doing?" Kara asked, worried. I didn't know how I could tell her, so I merely said that I was doing the only thing I could do.  
  
She recognized my purpose for herself. The broad side of the other ship was to us, and our ship was gaining speed. She kissed me on the cheek and told me she hoped I knew what I was doing.  
  
The other ship saw, and fiends of every description that had swarmed up from below its deck were diving into the foul waters or else climbing the walls madly. The 'loths that remained on our ship broke through the door at last. Medic threw Kara his bandoleer of potions and herbs and rushed them, knocking the pair that had stormed through to the railing. Before the 'loths or Medic recovered, the impact came, and all three were thrown overboard.  
  
The ship I was on crashed through the other and rocked back and forth. I fell to one side and pulled the wheel spinning. Kara fell beside me and we both tried to stand as the entire wreck, our ship lodged through the other which was practically cloven in half, turned town the slopes of Gehenna. The Ships of Chaos went down in a plume of dust created by the grinding against the old stone and ashes of the fiery mounts of Gehenna. The two of us stood up to see a straight fall ahead and a lava flow to the right. We were moving at an absurd speed, so the pit miles off was not long away.  
  
"The lava!" Kara shouted. "These ships are supposed to sail on seas of fire, its out only chance!"  
  
I twisted the wheel around, and the ship responded, sliding down on its side and inching right. It plunged into the lava flow, the shattered ship I had rammed burning up, but ours, which didn't have any major hull damage, stayed afloat in the deep and wide river of lava. Though the slow flow was carrying us towards the fall, I turned up the stream and pressed hard forward, and the ship began to lurch up the river of fire. It didn't pass near the keep, but we could see the smoke of battle and the portals that allowed a devilish recapture force to swarm down on the stronghold. I never did find out just how that battle turned out, but it never really matters. The Blood War will march on until the end of time, and no battle has any significance. We ascended the burning mount, knowing that there was another Baatezu keep further up the mount. However, once our ship was stable, the last fiendish occupant showed its head from the hold into which it had fallen. I slammed forward and the ship lurched and went faster, despite fighting both flow and gravity. The 'loth didn't even pause. It drew its sword and kept on coming at a controlled pace. I let go of the wheel and went for my weapon. Kara grabbed my arm.  
  
"You keep us on course. I can take this one."  
  
Having lost her own sword, she pulled one from where it had become wedged in the deck and prepared for battle with the 'loth. It only lasted a few swings after they closed. Kara parried and threw the creature back a few feet then thrust her arms forward. A beam of blinding white light leapt from her palms and struck the 'loth in the chest. Its skin began to burn even as the force of her attack. The 'loth howled in pain and fury, but Kara kept up her attack, finally, the creature threw its sword, nailing Kara. A huge surge of power wend down the beam and struck the 'loth. In an instant, the beam was gone, and the loth was nothing more than cinders and sparks. I tried to slow the ship, but the controls were jammed. The river of lava turned ahead, at a crag in the lee of which the Baatezu hold stood in. I let go of the controls and ran over to Kara. Before I reached her, our ship struck the crag and started to very slowly sink back into the lava., its hull split and defenses against the fire fading away.  
  
Kara spoke to me. It was clear she was dying. Her lips were flecked with blood and her voice was weak.  
  
"Please." She said "I need you to do something for me."  
  
"What?" I asked.  
  
"Tell my father. He needs to know."  
  
"How will I find him?" I asked. I didn't want her to die. Before I joined that company I had never kept any friends, and just then the last was about to pass.  
  
"Take my ring." She replied, slipping it off of her finger with what little movement she had. I picked up. It was a crystal band with a strange gemstone set in it. "Go to the market ward in Sigil. Ask around for its origin, you'll find him."  
  
I started to pick her up. Kara cried in pain from moving. "Don't try to move me. Better that I slide back into the fire when the ship goes than I be surrendered to fiends."  
  
She coughed, and closed her eyes. Her hand, which had been holding mine tightly, went limp. She would never open those eyes again. I left the shattered ship and stood upon the crag. I watched as the slow flow of lava carried it down under the current burning. As it drew Kara's body down with it. When the last timber was gone in flames, I turned and went to the Baatezu hold. Of each of my friends, only one thing remained. Trick cards from Dave, lock picks and thieves' tools from Mouser, Medic's bandoleer, and Kara's ring. I told the Pit Fiend at the outpost rather unceremoniously that I was quitting. If the Blood War didn't kill me, it would empty me again. It still hadn't quite dawned one me just how emptied I already was. Because I didn't complete my month of service, I hadn't quite worked off my arm, so with a flaming claw, the fiend reclaimed my hand. That's why I only have one intact. He gave me a swift shove and I fell through a portal in their hold and out the other end in Sigil.  
  
***  
  
I suppose you want to know exactly how everything wrapped up. Everyone always does. I'll tell you straight away what happened in Sigil. I came here after leaving, so I guess that really was the end to my adventures.  
  
***  
  
I wandered around the City of Doors for a few hours. The wound was cauterized by the fire, and so I didn't have to worry about bleeding to death, but I was still too dazed by the events of the battle to do anything. I found a place to spend the night in the hive ward. Thankfully warm, I slept out the night and rose to fulfill Kara's request.  
  
I found one merchant who dealt in jewelry easily. I showed him the ring. He looked at it for just a moment and then spoke. "This isn't magic, but it's Netheril make. Where did you come by such a thing?"  
  
"It was a gift." I replied. I didn't feel like spilling my heart, and trying to stay dispassionate was all I could do then to avoid breaking down. "Can you tell me who in Sigil would carry such a thing?"  
  
The jeweler leaned forward. "Only man who deals in Netherese things around here is a Chaosman. He changes the name of his shop weekly, its location half as often, and his name daily. Last I heard, the place was called Xaos Things and was located down that road on the left." He pointed me the right way and I departed, giving him a stinger for his services, that being a quarter of the money I had left.  
  
Xaos Things was not hard to find. The old man running it didn't use scramblespeak, but was clearly a Chaosman. I showed him the ring, he looked down at it in the palm of my hand and immediately looked into my eyes, afraid and a bit angry.  
  
"Where is my daughter?" he asked  
  
"She died on the mounts of Gehenna." I replied. The old shopkeeper was grief stricken.  
  
"Gehenna? Why would she ever be there?"  
  
I whispered to him what Kara had told me and the rest of the company and what I will not tell you. His eyes filled with horror. I then told him that I knew her because we had been fighting in the Blood war together. Though on the verge of tears, he said nothing, turning away as soon as I was done.  
  
"Sir," I called. "The ring?"  
  
"You keep it." He told me. And so I did.  
  
***  
  
I spent most of my remaining jink on the first portal key to a prime that I could find, and it happened to let out near this little town here. I found a job that didn't require two hands and have been working it ever since. The only friends I ever made, I lost in one horrible day. I have a token to remember each by, and that helps get me through the day. I'll not go back to the planes. Not out there. I've had my fill of angels and fiends, factions and rules of three. I've seen enough to last me this lifetime and several more to come. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get back to tending to my shop. 


	3. The Curse

"Why are we staying in the tomb to divvy up treasure? Wah? Can't you wait until we're outside?! No, no 'magic items' from tombs or crypts or dungeons for me. Yah, maybe I am paranoid, but I'll stick with gold and the occasional gem. No magic. No jewelry. Not unless I buy it new. Because stuff that belongs to old dead guys has curses! You're laughing now, but just wait until something happens to you. Ya know, when we're all out of here I'll tell you my own personal experience with curses. You won't be laughing after that!"  
  
***  
  
Some would call me a "Gray Beard" at adventuring. If that's true, I take it as a compliment. My real beard is far from going gray, but I've been adventuring for a good long part of my life. Early on, when most people would have said I was a bit young to really be an adventurer, my partner was a friend of mine from childhood named Ana. She was a sweet lass, and had a fiery enough spirit for doing roughly the same thing we're doing now. This tale begins in a tomb, not much different than the one we were just in. it was guarded by about two skeletons and a grand total of five kobolds, so it wasn't all that hard to get in to the crypt. There was a little gold, a few gems, a ceremonial sword, and a necklace set with shimmering agate and nine magnificent black pearls. She decided that she liked it and put it on right there. The rest of the treasure we bagged up and hauled back to town. That night we camped in the wilderness. I remember nothing after sunset.  
  
***  
  
The sun rose red above the hills, and we made it to the own that day. Of course, the first order of business was to see if any of our loot was magical. The only person in town you could trust with that kind of job was old Halgis. Halgis was an ancient man and plying his trade before I was born, and from what my parents told me, he was an old man with a big white beard and a pointy hat, set up in the very shop he was in then and probably still now is in doing the exact same thing. The reason you can trust Halgis is that he doesn't buy or sell anything, nor does he work with anyone who does. The old wizard is an appraiser, pure and simple. Of course, his shop is where Ana and I were going. We paid the standard fee and laid the entire haul down on the table.  
  
Halgis put on a pair of spectacles that made his eyes look as big as dinner plates and set to work. He gave a passing glance over the gold, dusting off a coin or two and flipping one for some reason. He then drew the sword from its scabbard and ran his fingers over the runes etched on the blade while hmmming. He spoke without ever lifting his head.  
  
"Magic, but not very powerful. Just enough to keep the rust off and, if I can just find how to. Ah!" the blade lit up, glowing with a weak silvery light. The light went out as he sheathed the blade and set it aside before beginning work on the gems. He muttered as he inspected each one.  
  
"All gemstones have some modicum of power, some weak aura. Barley distinguishable as magic, but its what makes them so good for enchanting. Of course, it also makes it harder to tell a gem that has been enchanted apart from one that isn't. some even have a limited form of what one might call magic all on their own. Flawless star sapphires, some pearls, moonstone of exceeding quality." he continued to ramble for about five minutes as he inspected each gemstone carefully.  
  
"No, none of the stones have any real power." he said in a voice just slightly clearer than his mutterings. Finally he looked up. "Your necklace." He said to Ana. "I suppose you knew it was magic?"  
  
Ana was surprised and clearly happy. "N-no, I didn't!" she said. "It came from the same place as the rest of this. I suppose I owe you for -"  
  
"No need, rate doesn't go up until ten more items. Well, I suppose you two will find plenty of ways to spend this loot, best be getting to it."  
  
With that, we took the gold, gems, and sword and left.  
  
***  
  
There was no shortage of ways to spend gold and gems, and in a small town what would be considered a meager catch for adventuring was quite a lot. As it was just easier to not keep house while traveling as much as we were in those days, the inn was one such place. It was nights like that one we were both lucky that both our parents had died in a fire, forcing us into adventuring to make a living. They never would have condoned a sort of lifestyle that involved parties and drinking after every success. The revelry for the two of us started mid afternoon and lasted into the early evening. It would have gone on longer had not Ana professed to not feeling well a little while after sundown. We went up to the room (Which we shared, though we each had our own bed. After learning very early in out career how to avoid embarrassing accidents, it worked out well.) and I can remember nothing of what happened after.  
  
***  
  
When I awoke the next morning, Ana was already up. We still had more money than a lot of people in that town would make in a long time, and so resolved to continue on the run with it. There was no shop that dealt in magic in the town, so we had to make do with other things. Of course, all our gear needed to be repaired and shined until it looked like a bunch of mirrors. Aside from that I insisted on getting a jewel encrusted signet ring (so it cost a full quarter of what I had left? Who cared, it was shiny.) and Ana upon getting the most expensive dress she could find. It was just our luck that that night was the night of the festival. I dressed up in what I had and Ana in her new red dress. As night fell, it began, though we stayed at a low wall by the lake. At one point, to pass time until the big events, Ana tried skipping stones. A few went all right, but others just dropped into the rippling lade, reflecting some lights of the festival and the dark night sky. The parade began, and Ana and I had a prime place to watch from. I don't know how long it was before I noticed, but at some point she had wrapped one arm around my neck. I also cannot remember the end of the parade, nor anything after it. That was strange the next morning, but I wrote it off to drink.  
  
***  
  
I woke up late again the next morning, and felt weak. I didn't think muck on my lack of memory, it just wasn't worth my energy, which was less than it usually was. That day was much less eventful than the last. I guess the only real event of the day worth relating to you was at lunch, when I was talking with Ana about the previous night. I was recounting what I remembered when she interrupted me.  
  
"We saw the parade?" she asked. Before I was able to respond, she answered her own question. "I guess we did, I sort of remember watching a lot of lights and bright colors, so I guess we did see it. I can't remember anything after sunset clearly."  
  
"That's really strange." I said " My memory goes blank after a while too. After some point in the parade, I just can't remember anything after that. Not the end of the parade, not how we got back to the inn. I just blamed it on drinking."  
  
She smiled, but couldn't hide the worry in her eyes. She thought after that, just like I did, that something wasn't right. "It probably is. We have been hitting the ale houses a bit hard. How about we turn in early tonight, eh?"  
  
We did turn in early, and with nothing stronger than water to drink for the rest of the day. Still, I remember nothing that happened after sundown. It seemed natural, as I was already bedding down by then.  
  
***  
  
I woke late again the next day. I had a throbbing headache and felt weaker than I had in quite a long time. I awakened with a cough, and Ana, who had just gotten us both breakfast (with every intention of waking me up) came over to my bedside.  
  
"This is no good, Hammond!" she said "We should stay in today, you must be coming down with something."  
  
"No, no." I protested, trying to get up "I'm all right."  
  
As it turns out, I wasn't, as I didn't then have the strength to get out of bed easily.  
  
Ana was quickly above me "Oh no you aren't. Your staying right here until you're over whatever this is, and I'm staying with you."  
  
We spent the entire day inside, idly talking the afternoon (I apparently hadn't woken up until noon and she hadn't been up long before) away. Night fell and she sat at my bedside. About an hour after dark. She whispered in my ear.  
  
"Nothing bad will come in for you while I'm here."  
  
She kissed me on the lips, then on the cheek. As she closed her eyes for another kiss, my memory goes dark, and I have none for the remainder of the night.  
  
***  
  
I awoke the next morning to the smell of blood. Though weak of body, I managed to act with the speed I was used to. I quickly scanned the room, seeing the source of the stench. Ana was sitting at the desk, a pool of blood around her chair. She was crying. I rushed over to her - hobbled actually - as best I could. I put my hands on her cheeks and asked her what was had happened. She didn't answer, but just kept crying.  
  
"What's wrong?!" I asked, half yelling. "Guards!"  
  
Ana stood up with a snap and took two steps back as the city guards just out the window began to run to the inn. "This!" she screamed as she raked her bloody dagger across her wrist. The blood flowed freely for a second at most, and then the wound healed as though it had never been. The guards burst in in time to see the last drops stop flowing.  
  
"How-" I began.  
  
"Long did it take to make this mess?" she finished for me. "Since dawn. I'm glad the guards are here, so they can see the truth. I need you to kill me."  
  
I was instantly horrified. I had known Ana all my life, and if I wasn't in love with her I at least cared about her quite a bit. I walked over to her worked the dagger out of her hand, letting it fall to the floor. As it clattered on the wood, Ana snapped. "Get back!" She screamed  
  
"I'm not going to hurt you! Hell, you just asked me to kill you! What's going on?!"  
  
She looked right into my eyes. "I know you wouldn't, but I might hurt you."  
  
"How?" I asked "Why?"  
  
She was on the verge of tears again "I have already. I don't know if I could again. I finally remembered what happened in the night! You want to know why you've gone weak, why you can't remember? It's me. It's this damn thing around my neck that I can't take off! I've remembered. I've realized. Each night it turns me into a vampire, and draws me to you!"  
  
I turned to the guards "Get a wizard!" I then went over to her and took her hands. "We're going to beat this thing, I know it." I turned my head and the guards were still standing there "Go!"  
  
The one on the left stammered "W-w-w-what wizard sir?"  
  
"Any wizard!" I screamed "Fetch Halgis if you have to!"  
  
Ten minutes later, they returned with the old appraiser, thick glasses peeking from under the brim of his ridiculous pointy hat, white beard hanging down to his waist. His alchemist kit was under one arm.  
  
"What happened here?!" he exclaimed. I explained the situation to him. By that time I had gotten Ana to sit down on the bed, and I was sitting beside her.  
  
"Strange." The old wizard murmured, "Very strange. I haven't heard of a curse like that before, though I suppose it could be possible." He set up his kit on the table in the room and picked up a scalpel and a few vials. He walked over and started trying to scrape a few shavings of gold from the necklace. He found that exceedingly hard, until he was able to collect his samples from some of the detail work at the front. To my horror, the gold "re-grew" even as the scalpel passed across it. Halgis took his vials of gold shavings and set to work.  
  
"If the necklace is cursed, or even if it isn't, we shall soon know the exact extent of its magic." He said, preparing solutions for his tests.  
  
The whole process took a couple hours, in which time he created many vials of fuming and odd-colored liquid from the gold shavings and his solutions, and had to collect more shavings more than once. Finally he mixed the last two vials and drank the contents. He sat still for about five minutes and then finally spoke. I held Ana's hand. It was cold as ice, and her grip on mine was tight.  
  
"I'm afraid it is exactly what the lady thought, coupled with my worst fears of other properties. First, it masks the curse from standard detection. This is usual with intentionally cursed items. Secondly, as the lady first stated, it turns the wearer into a vampire each night and bids them seek the blood of someone close. A secondary enchantment keeps the victim or the wearer from remembering most of the time, though it may be overcome by force of will as it was. Lastly, and most grievously, it cannot be removed while the wearer lives or even un-lives. Nor will it be broken while around the unlucky wearer's neck. You could strike it with a Titan's maul and still it would hold as long as it was worn when you did the striking. I know of no means of breaking the curse."  
  
Ana instantly reverted to her first impulse. "Give me my dagger." She said  
  
"No!" I yelled, then turned to her. "I won't let you do this."  
  
Halgis coughed. "You might as well give her the dagger, it won't do anything. Death for her will have to come by beheading, stake through the heart, or. Yes, there is another way. You know, in all my long years I've never taken the life of a being higher than an insect, but in my studies of alchemy I learned a lot about poison. I could make one that will be swift and painless."  
  
"Make two." I said. Ana quickly corrected the total to one.  
  
"I'll leave the room while the two of you figure this out." Halgis said, joining the guards in the hall.  
  
We were alone. Ana looked into my eyes and spoke. "As long as we've known each other," She said, "I've been afraid to tell you."  
  
"Why?" I asked, "Tell me what?"  
  
She put one hand on my cheek "I love you, Hammond. I was always afraid that you wouldn't feel the same way, and that if I told you I'd die of a broken heart. Now, I suppose, it doesn't matter."  
  
I looked into her eyes. "If I don't love you," I said, "Then I have no idea what love is." It was true.  
  
We called Halgis back in, and in very little time he had a small vial full of a glowing blue potion. He handed it to Ana. "Drink this." He said "You will fall asleep shortly after, and won't wake back up."  
  
She drank it in a single swallow, then looked into my eyes. She leaned forward and kissed me. As she leaned back after, her eyes shut, never to open again.  
  
***  
  
"Well now you know why I don't trust magic from old dungeons. Call me crazy, but I'd rather be safe than sorry again. What of the necklace? Well, it fell off her neck as life passed out of her. As it stopped being protected, I took it outside and smashed it to powdered gem and twisted metal on the pavement. Some say revenge is bitter, others a dish best served cold, I say it is not filling enough. It is late, our road tomorrow is long, and I think some sleep is in order." 


End file.
